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CNBC
27-05-2025
- Business
- CNBC
Stock futures are little changed as investors brace for Nvidia earnings: Live updates
Traders work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange on May 21, 2025 in New York City. Spencer Platt | Getty Images U.S. stock futures were little changed Tuesday night, as investors awaited earnings results from Nvidia, after the Dow Jones Industrial Average snapped a four-day losing streak. Dow futures rose by 49 points, or 0.1%. S&P 500 futures and Nasdaq 100 futures climbed 0.07% and 0.03%, respectively. In extended trading, Okta shares plunged more than 12% after the identity management software company kept its guidance due to macroeconomic uncertainty. Otherwise, Okta beat fiscal first-quarter expectations on the top and bottom lines. Investors are coming off a strong session for the major averages. The 30-stock Dow rallied more than 700 points, or about 1.8%, while the S&P 500 rose 2%, each ending a four-day losing streak. The Nasdaq Composite advanced roughly 2.5%. Those moves come after President Donald Trump on Sunday said that he would delay a 50% tariff on the European Union to July 9, after initially saying Friday that he was "not looking for a deal." This added to investors' hopes the stock market can leave the worst of the tariff chaos behind. "It's important for investors to look past the tariff turmoil and look at the environment where we'll have deregulation, more onshoring. Think about the tax bill, immediate expensing from a tax basis. Greater opportunities for M&A. So, the environment post-tariffs will be a great environment for investing," Treasury Partners' Rich Saperstein said Tuesday on CNBC's "Closing Bell." "Now, in between that, we have uncertainty, which could cause a slowdown in the next two quarters," said Saperstein, chief investment officer of Treasury Partners. "But I would look to the environment post-tariffs into '26, versus looking in the immediate volatility." Investors are awaiting Nvidia 's earnings results, set to release Wednesday after the close. They'll be paying close attention to what China restrictions will mean for the AI chipmaker, which sees no slowing in demand for its graphics processors. Elsewhere, Macy's , Dick's Sporting Goods and Abercrombie & Fitch are set to report before the open on Wednesday. Traders will also be reviewing the minutes from the Federal Reserve May meeting, due out Wednesday afternoon, for insight into how central bank policymakers are thinking through monetary policy at a time of greater macroeconomic uncertainty.
CNBC
20-05-2025
- Business
- CNBC
S&P 500 futures are little changed after benchmark snaps six-day win streak: Live updates
Traders work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) on May 19, 2025 in New York City. Spencer Platt | Getty Images News | Getty Images S&P 500 futures wavered Tuesday night following a losing session on Wall Street that snapped a winning streak. Futures tied to the broad index shed 0.1%, while Nasdaq 100 futures ticked down 0.2%. Dow Jones Industrial Average futures lost 49 points, or 0.1%. Tuesday night's action comes after a tough session for the three major averages. The S&P 500 ended a six-day win streak, while the Nasdaq Composite saw its first negative day in three. The Dow fell more than 100 points, breaking a three-day positive streak. That marks a pullback amid a major recovery rally for U.S. equities. Investors had been cheering progress on trade deals following President Donald Trump's announcement of broad and steep tariffs last month. All three major averages are still above where they traded on April 2, the day Trump unveiled his import tax policy. The S&P 500 is now up on the year, a sharp reversal after at one point falling on an intraday basis into bear market territory, a term referring to a decline of at least 20% from a recent high. "The equity market's recovery over the past month has been extraordinary in terms of both speed and scale," said Kristian Kerr, head of macro strategy at LPL Financial. "While it may be tempting to interpret this powerful rally as a definitive signal that risks have subsided, the reality is that plenty of uncertainty remains." Investors are continuing to monitor Washington, D.C, for updates on the budget bill and the federal deficit. There is no economic data of note expected on Wednesday. Traders will also parse a plethora of corporate earnings slated for Wednesday. Lowe's , Target , Canada Goose and TJX Cos. are all expected before the bell, followed by Snowflake after the market closes. Stock futures were nearly flat shortly after 6 p.m. ET Tuesday night. Dow and S&P 500 futures each slipped 0.1%, while Nasdaq 100 futures shed 0.2%. — Alex Harring
Toronto Sun
20-05-2025
- Business
- Toronto Sun
Grocery price increases outpace overall inflation for third straight month: StatCan
Published May 20, 2025 • Last updated 7 minutes ago • 1 minute read People shop at a grocery store in Brooklyn on May 13, 2025 in New York City. Photo by Spencer Platt / Getty Images Despite the annual pace of inflation cooling last month, Statistics Canada says consumers continue to pay higher costs for groceries. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. THIS CONTENT IS RESERVED FOR SUBSCRIBERS ONLY Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada. Unlimited online access to articles from across Canada with one account. Get exclusive access to the Toronto Sun ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition that you can share, download and comment on. Enjoy insights and behind-the-scenes analysis from our award-winning journalists. Support local journalists and the next generation of journalists. Daily puzzles including the New York Times Crossword. SUBSCRIBE TO UNLOCK MORE ARTICLES Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada. Unlimited online access to articles from across Canada with one account. Get exclusive access to the Toronto Sun ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition that you can share, download and comment on. Enjoy insights and behind-the-scenes analysis from our award-winning journalists. Support local journalists and the next generation of journalists. Daily puzzles including the New York Times Crossword. REGISTER / SIGN IN TO UNLOCK MORE ARTICLES Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience. Access articles from across Canada with one account. Share your thoughts and join the conversation in the comments. Enjoy additional articles per month. Get email updates from your favourite authors. THIS ARTICLE IS FREE TO READ REGISTER TO UNLOCK. Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience. Access articles from across Canada with one account Share your thoughts and join the conversation in the comments Enjoy additional articles per month Get email updates from your favourite authors Don't have an account? Create Account The agency reports prices for food purchased from stores increased 3.8 per cent on a year-over-year basis, up from 3.2 per cent annual growth in March. It marks the third straight month that grocery price increases outpaced the overall inflation rate, which was 1.7 per cent in April. StatCan says items that contributed most to year-over-year price acceleration include fresh vegetables, for which prices rose 3.7 per cent, fresh or frozen beef at 16.2 per cent growth, and coffee and tea at 13.4 per cent. Some of Canada's large grocers have warned of price hikes due to added costs from U.S.-Canada tariffs, with Loblaw Cos. Ltd. chief executive Per Bank saying last week the number of tariff-hit products at the grocery store could soon spike as pre-tariff inventory runs out. Loblaw has been aggressive in marking products on display affected by tariffs, a tally that last week reached over 1,000 items, but Bank said the total will rise to more than 3,000 by next week and could peak at double that number within the next two months. Canada Toronto Maple Leafs Columnists Toronto Maple Leafs Sunshine Girls
Business Mayor
19-05-2025
- Business
- Business Mayor
Healthy Returns: Trump provides a glimpse of the third round of Medicare drug price negotiations
In a photo illustration, prescription drugs are seen next to a pill bottle on July 23, 2024 in New York City. Spencer Platt | Getty Images News | Getty Images A version of this article first appeared in CNBC's Healthy Returns newsletter, which brings the latest health-care news straight to your inbox. Subscribe here to receive future editions. The Trump administration is already gearing up for another round of Medicare drug price negotiations, but it will look a little different this time around. The U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services on Monday issued new draft guidance for that third cycle, as the second round of negotiations is underway. The process was established under the Biden administration's signature Inflation Reduction Act as a way to rein in high health care costs for older Americans. CMS plans to announce a list of 15 drugs eligible for the third round of price talks by February 2026, which will then kick off months of back and forth between the government and manufacturers if they agree to participate. The new negotiated prices for those products will go into effect in 2028. But here are the biggest changes this time around: Medicare Part B drugs – For the first time, the list would include drugs payable under Medicare Part B – which covers medicines administered in a doctor's office or hospital – in addition to prescription drugs covered under Medicare Part D. Previous rounds only targeted Part D medications. – For the first time, the list would include drugs payable under Medicare Part B – which covers medicines administered in a doctor's office or hospital – in addition to prescription drugs covered under Medicare Part D. Previous rounds only targeted Part D medications. Renegotiation process – CMS may choose to renegotiate the prices for certain drugs that already had prices set for the first and second cycles of talks, including those with new approved uses or changes in 'monopoly status.' The agency will announce any medicines selected for the first cycle of renegotiation, with revised prices for those products taking effect in 2028. CMS may choose to renegotiate the prices for certain drugs that already had prices set for the first and second cycles of talks, including those with new approved uses or changes in 'monopoly status.' The agency will announce any medicines selected for the first cycle of renegotiation, with revised prices for those products taking effect in 2028. Transparency – CMS is aiming to boost transparency around the process, seeking public feedback on topics such as how the agency determines an initial price offer for a drug. Read More Care sector fears migration changes are a step back 'This draft guidance is critical to creating a transparent, competitive, and fair prescription drug market that puts American patients first,' Medicare Director Chris Klomp said in a release. But Wall Street analysts are focused on another part of the guidance that could cause issues for Merck , Bristol Myers Squibb and some other pharmaceutical companies. The guidance document suggests that the Trump administration could end a workaround that those companies are using to drag out revenue from top-earning cancer drugs, such as Merck's Keytruda and Bristol Myers Squibb's Opdivo. The plan had been to shift patients to newer injectable – or subcutaneous – versions of their cancer drugs and keep charging Medicare higher prices for them, even after their original intravenous versions are subject to new negotiated prices under the program. Drugmakers have been banking on those subcutaneous versions as a way to dampen the revenue they would lose from Medicare drug price negotiations, along with upcoming patent expirations for the original forms of their drugs. For example, key patents for Keytruda start expiring in 2028. Under the current rules, complex drugs known as biologics are eligible for the negotiation process after 13 years, but the clock restarts for a new version of the drug – like a subcutaneous form – that adds an additional active ingredient. Subcutaneous versions of drugs like Opdivo are combination products that include an additional ingredient, allowing them to be injected quickly instead of being slowly infused like the original intravenous form. But on Monday, CMS said it is 'soliciting comments' on how it 'might consider' grouping these combination drugs with their original versions — if the added ingredient doesn't affect how the drug treats the underlying disease. In other words, the agency is considering whether to count two versions of a drug as a single product in certain cases. That appears to be 'somewhat targeted' at products such as subcutaneous Keytruda and Opdivo, JPMorgan analysts said in a note on Monday. They said the guidance leads to 'at least the potential for inclusion' of those drugs in future negotiations. Still, no changes are final yet, so it may be too soon to predict the impact on drugmakers like Merck and Bristol Myers Squibb. Feel free to send any tips, suggestions, story ideas and data to Annika at Latest in health care: UnitedHealth's surprise leadership shakeup It's not unusual for CEOs who transformed their companies to step back into leadership when things veer off course. This week, UnitedHealth Group Chairman Stephen Hemsley took a page from Bob Iger's playbook at Disney , and took back the CEO position at the company following the abrupt departure of Andrew Witty. The last six months have been challenging for Witty, following the murder of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson and disappointing first-quarter earnings. Shares hit a four-year low in recent weeks as it became increasingly clear that United's Medicare Advantage peers had done a better job of pricing for elevated costs in Medicare this year. During Hemsley's 11-year tenure as CEO, UnitedHealth's stock rose more than 300%, as he built the company into a health care juggernaut. Following the massive growth, the company and the industry as a whole have been facing waves of regulatory pressure and public scrutiny of their businesses. For Hemsley, it's a whole new environment to navigate as he tries to right the ship. Feel free to send any tips, suggestions, story ideas and data to Bertha at Latest in health-care tech: OpenAI launches new benchmark tool to evaluate how AI models perform in health scenarios OpenAI on Monday launched a new evaluation tool called HealthBench, a benchmark that will help test how artificial intelligence models perform in realistic health-care scenarios. 'If developed and deployed effectively, large language models have the potential to expand access to health information, support clinicians in delivering high-quality care, and help people advocate for their health and that of their communities,' OpenAI said in a blog post. 'To get there, we need to ensure models are useful and safe.' Read More Taiwan kindergarten druggings spark alarm among island's parents The company said HealthBench was developed alongside 262 doctors from 60 countries. It's based on 5,000 conversations that simulate interactions between individual users or clinicians and AI models. The discussions are split into seven different themes, including global health, emergency situations and handling uncertainty. When a model responds to a prompt, each response is graded against a set of 'physician-written rubric criteria specific to that conversation,' OpenAI said. HealthBench contains 48,562 unique rubric criteria. OpenAI included one example where a user said they found their 70-year-old neighbor unresponsive on the floor. The AI model in that instance told the user to take action right away, and included eight steps they could follow. HealthBench gave this answer a 77% based on its rubric criteria. OpenAI said HealthBench responses were evaluated against responses written by doctors to understand how the model compared to their clinical judgement. The company found that HealthBench 'closely aligns' with physicians' grading. OpenAI said it used HealthBench to evaluate several existing models, including its own o3, GPT-4.1, o1, GPT-4o and GPT-3.5 Turbo models, xAI's Grok 3, Google's Gemini 2.5 Pro, Anthropic's Claude 3.7 Sonnet and Meta's Llama 4 Maverick. The company found that o3 outperformed other models, and it said its models have improved by 28% on HealthBench. OpenAI said the full evaluation suite and underlying data for HealthBench is available in its GitHub repository. 'We hope this supports shared progress toward using AI systems to improve human health,' the company said. Read the full blog post here. Feel free to send any tips, suggestions, story ideas and data to Ashley at
Yahoo
08-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
What to Know About the Latest Protests at Columbia
Protesters are escorted out of Columbia University's Butler Library after their arrest in New York City on May 7, 2025. Credit - Spencer Platt—Getty Images Columbia University has once again found itself at the epicenter of pro-Palestinian campus protests after an attempted takeover of its main library by demonstrators on Wednesday. New York police stepped in, arresting multiple people in relation to the protests, and officials including the mayor and governor, as well as members of the Trump Administration, have addressed the situation that continues to unfold. Here's what to know. How did the protest begin? The protests, which erupted days before exams, began at roughly around 3:15 p.m. on May 7, student newspaper the Columbia Daily Spectator reported. Some 100 protesters entered Butler Library's Reading Room 301 and hung a 'Liberated Zone' banner that resembled banners posted during the pro-Palestinian university encampments last year. Videos on social media showed the occupants, many of whom were wearing keffiyehs and masks, chanting 'Free Palestine.' Photos also appear to show that protesters scribbled messages on desks. A Substack post that appeared to be from Columbia University Apartheid Divest, a coalition of student groups supporting the Palestinian cause, said the protesters 'renamed' the library the 'Basel Al-Araj Popular University' after a Palestinian activist and writer who died in 2017. 'The flood shows that as long as Columbia funds and profits from imperialist violence, the people will continue to disrupt Columbia's profits and legitimacy,' the Substack post added, also reiterating calls for the University to divest from companies with business links to Israel. How have university authorities responded? The university issued a statement shortly after the protest broke out, saying that Columbia's Public Safety Team was responding to the 'disruption.' Individuals were asked to identify themselves and warned that failing to comply could possibly result in arrests. Video on social media shows protesters attempting to leave the room. Acting President Claire Shipman said in a follow-up statement that the university requested New York police presence to secure the Butler Library following the 'disruption' in Reading Room 301. Shipman said two of Columbia's Public Safety Officers were injured in the standoff with protesters. 'These actions are outrageous,' she said. Shipman said they sought the NYPD's help 'due to the number of individuals participating in the disruption inside and outside of the building, a large group of people attempting to force their way into Butler Library creating a safety hazard, and what we believe to be the significant presence of individuals not affiliated with the University.' How did law enforcement respond? The NYPD did not become involved until hours later. 'At the direct request of Columbia University, the NYPD is responding to an ongoing situation on campus where individuals have occupied a library and are trespassing,' the NYPD posted on X shortly after 7 p.m. The Columbia Daily Spectator reported that at around that time, NYPD officers—including members of the Strategic Response Group, entered the library. A video posted by Columbia University Apartheid Divest showed protesters chanting, 'We have nothing to lose but our chains.' Videos on social media showed NYPD escorting protesters out of the library. Some 75 people were arrested, according to the Columbia Daily Spectator, though the NYPD did not confirm the total number of arrests. What have officials said? New York City Mayor Eric Adams said in a statement: 'New York City will always defend the right to peaceful protest, but we will never tolerate lawlessness.' The mayor also asked parents of student protesters to make clear to their children 'that breaking the law is wrong.' Adams warned those attending the demonstrations who are not Columbia students to 'exit the campus immediately, or you will be arrested. We will not tolerate hate or violence in any form in our city.' New York Governor Kathy Hochul also posted on X, saying she had been briefed on the situation at Columbia, adding: 'Everyone has the right to peacefully protest. But violence, vandalism or destruction of property are completely unacceptable.' Secretary of State Marco Rubio posted on X: 'We are reviewing the visa status of the trespassers and vandals who took over Columbia University's library. Pro-Hamas thugs are no longer welcome in our great nation.' The Trump Administration in recent months has pursued deportation cases against a number of participants in pro-Palestinian protests last year, including recent Columbia graduate Mahmoud Khalil. What is Columbia University's history with student protests? Columbia was at the heart of pro-Palestinian protests across U.S. college campuses last year, beginning with the first major pro-Palestinian campus encampment on April 17, 2024, on its Morningside campus. Protesters then barricaded the University's Hamilton Hall, and called for it to be named 'Hind's Hall' after a child who was killed during Israel's military offensive in Gaza. Historically, Columbia was the site of famous 1968 anti-Vietnam war and civil rights protests. Like in 2024, students also took over Hamilton Hall, and New York police also intervened. The 1968 protests have been the subject of archives and exhibits in recognition of how they shaped campus activism and national politics in the U.S. How has the Trump Administration and the university cracked down on protests? The university has taken a number of steps to try to prevent similar incidents from happening—after pressure from the Trump Administration. In March, Columbia said it issued a broad range of sanctions on students who took part in the 2024 protests, including 'multi-year suspensions, temporary degree revocations, and expulsions.' The same month, Columbia announced a series of counter-protest measures, including recruiting special officers authorized to make arrests, imposing restrictions on protests, limiting face mask use, and adopting a formal definition of antisemitism that holds students accountable for a broad range of acts deemed discriminatory to Israel. The measures came after the Trump Administration announced the cancellation of some $400 million in federal grants and contracts to Columbia. Many of the university's new policies have been seen by some critics as kowtowing to the Trump Administration. Contact us at letters@
